February had not fully passed when the dry weather manifested itself by fires on the multi-layered Penang Hills. Firemen were dispatched and they got some of them under control but some were inaccessible on foot and an aerial assault was called for. Bombardier 514 planes had been purchased previously for such an emergency an one was put on the case. On Wednesday evening (26th Feb) the scenario looked rather bleak. Some of the fires had been extinguished by Thursday and on Friday late morning one persisted and the Bombardier was back on the case. the plane is amphibious and lands on water…..it scoops up the sea water while taxi-ing and then takes off to strategically drop it's load over the fire. Fire retardants may be added. After about 6 bombing runs the reluctant fire showed no more smoke ….so hopefully it was extinguished.
The fires were extinguished and we finally had about 20 hours of rain in the middle of March however the weather went back to hot and dry and we have had no significant rain since.
The month was gripped by the mystery of Malaysian Airlines flight MH670. It was a complex and fearful scenario we would not like to see any loved ones involved with. The plane seemingly passed pretty close to Penang on its redirected route that landed in the Southern Indian Ocean. The Malaysian authorities have come under a lot of fire for their handling of the sorry scenario but worse still is the series mis-reported and sensation-seeking articles in many on-line and printed newspapers. The distant reaches of the Indian Ocean are possibly the worse place to locate pieces of the jigsaw and come to some conclusion as to what exactly happened.
Our drought was broken on Saturday 15th when it rained steadily for almost 24 hours. Since then we seemed to have gone back to the clear, hot weather.
I have photographed at several local locations in the last month and have had three sets of guests at various times; a young American couple I met at Fraser's Hill, and two separate shooting companions from Singapore. The Chestnut-headed Bee-eaters are still feeding nests and sometimes there is a few inter-species disputes.
I was privileged to see three Chestnut-headed Bee-eater chicks fledge from a nest I had followed since the parents dug the cavity.
The Mum came in and fed chick number 1 with a dragonfly and then invited the offspring to follow her. 30 seconds later the chick flew off. Minutes later the parent was back and twice fed the next chick in line. It too was invited to follow Mum and did. This chick appeared to be less mature that the first one. It should be noted that the eggs are laid one or two days apart so there will be an age difference with the chicks. It also depends on whose mouth the incoming insects go into. A few minute later chick number 3 appeared and looked around at the big wide world. Mum did not appear with food despite being summoned. This chick was perhaps the most mature and had the nous to go back onsite and put on the flying gear before re-emerging….waddling out of the entrance and then taking off. I have a nice, in-focus-bum as a record of that event.
The Red-wattled Lapwings are also nesting and are very aggressive protecting their very exposed eggs in shallow depressions
I have been to Byram on several occasions and although compromised by man's expensive folly there is still some activity there, especially in the early morning where 5 different species of Kingfishers can be seen foraging for food.
There are always raptors around and one Crested Serpent Eagle I stayed with for over an hour to get a flight shot was finally moved by a crow that just wanted to hassle it.
Elsewhere at Byram Long-tailed Macaques forage in the estuarine mud for crabs. This is their natural habitat and they were one known as Crab-eating Macaques. There seems to be a lot of Pied Stilts around this year. They are elegant but skittish birds.
Helen has lost a few students that have returned to their homeland but quickly gained a few more. She even has a Mexican lady wanting to learn business English.
The B and B business has quietened away from Chinese New Year and other festivals. We have just said farewell to three folks from Singapore. There is certainly more interest in our estate from Singaporeans as prices continue to soar there. I have more ex-colleagues looking around next month for that reason.
